The Boston Marathon training plan that I've been following is pretty hard core. Yesterday I woke up at 5 to fit in 8 miles before work. I'm definitely not averse to getting up early to get a run in, but usually I don't do more than 5 miles when I need to be in the office before 9am. I was running in the dark yesterday, alternating between outside and the treadmill so that I could focus on speed, and I was thinking to myself, "why am I doing this?" So far in January I have run over 70 miles and it's only January 15!
This might be hard to believe but I usually don't run this much. I run for fun and so far, it's really worked for me. I still like running. I've completed 11 marathons, more than half of them under 4 hours, and qualified for Boston. Of course, I've had fantasies that I am perhaps a professional runner hiding underneath a normal person's body, and following training plans like this will ultimately lead me to marathon glory and world domination. But in reality, I think that following a training plan like this, running over 150 miles a month for 3.5 months, will probably just lead me to burn out.
But in response to my question of "Why am I doing this?" my brain immediately fired back at me: "because it's Boston." I'm not training for just any race. I'm going to run the Boston marathon and surely that merits trying a new training plan, budgeting for a massage every month, and getting up a little extra early every few days to fit in a 10 miler before work. However, I do think that I have to be careful to listen to my body and not get carried away. It's Boston but Boston is one piece of my life, one (very important) marathon in what will hopefully be hundreds of marathons throughout my life. Maybe if I tell myself in writing, it's ok to stretch and do some yoga on a day when you're supposed to run 10 miles, it will make it a little easier to do?
Ok better go run 10 miles now...
This might be hard to believe but I usually don't run this much. I run for fun and so far, it's really worked for me. I still like running. I've completed 11 marathons, more than half of them under 4 hours, and qualified for Boston. Of course, I've had fantasies that I am perhaps a professional runner hiding underneath a normal person's body, and following training plans like this will ultimately lead me to marathon glory and world domination. But in reality, I think that following a training plan like this, running over 150 miles a month for 3.5 months, will probably just lead me to burn out.
But in response to my question of "Why am I doing this?" my brain immediately fired back at me: "because it's Boston." I'm not training for just any race. I'm going to run the Boston marathon and surely that merits trying a new training plan, budgeting for a massage every month, and getting up a little extra early every few days to fit in a 10 miler before work. However, I do think that I have to be careful to listen to my body and not get carried away. It's Boston but Boston is one piece of my life, one (very important) marathon in what will hopefully be hundreds of marathons throughout my life. Maybe if I tell myself in writing, it's ok to stretch and do some yoga on a day when you're supposed to run 10 miles, it will make it a little easier to do?
Ok better go run 10 miles now...
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